Warm Hearts!

I just love these dog stamp sets from There She Goes.  I actually got this set as an incentive after another TSG dog card was published in PaperCrafts last year.  It's like the circle of life.  Or the circle of dog stamps.  This is (if I remember correctly) 4bar size, which is 3½ by 4⅞ (<-- look at me all HTML fractiony!) I made a mask of the snowman and doggie so I could use my Hero Art envelope background stamp.  I usually do ok at masking small things, but when every I try to use a background stamp over masking I always end up with a white border around my masking--any hints on what I'm doing wrong?  I'm using a post-it, so I don't think it's a thickness issue.  Should I be trimming on the inside of my shape more?

Anyway, I still liked it even with the aura, so I did some quick Copic coloring and added some Stickles, then I totally copied Angela's first published card by highlighting "warm hearts" with a copic since (a) it was a thank you note and (b) that was better than crossing out "frosty nights" since I'm not really a big fan of those. 

Speaking of warming hearts, I have some fun Christmas RAKs to share! 

Look at those mathy hexagons!  And that cute striped bow!  Thanks, Angela!

Seriously, can you believe that coloring?!?  No wonder Maria is now a part of the Eat Cake Graphics design team!

Clean.  Simple.  With a touch of glitter.  Must be another great card from Lindsey!

Oooh, it's a card AND a gift all in one!  Emily sure knows how to pack a lot of punch into one envelope; she even included this thank you, too:

Oh, I see how Jessi's going to be.  Not only does she make the perfect pup card with fun snowy accents, but she also paper pieced the same doggy on the envelope! 

This last card is not a stamped card, but a store-bought one we received from Mr Corgi's cool Seattle aunt.  After opening this one, I decided I should just give up cardmaking because this is cardmaking perfection:

PEOPLE IT IS PRINTED ON WOOD AND IT INVOLVES A RED BUG, PINK PIG, AND A FOX THAT HAS CORGI EARS.    The most random part?  It is made by Night Owl Paper Goods, which, as I read the back of the card, is based in Birmingham, Owlabama.   Which means not only are they based in my CITY, but they even made a PUN FOR MY STATE.  I wonder if they need an intern.... 

Hope your hearts are staying warm wherever you are!

Life is an Adventure

Just a quick card to start off the second semester...

I finally broke down and bought Artistic Outpost's Adventure set, at the same time I bought this fun My Mind's Eye garland.  Put 'em together on some Amuse Eucalyptus paper and thought it was the perfect card for my cousin who was celebrating his birthday at Marine boot camp.  Plus, if you squint, it kind of looks like a corgi, doesn't it? 

Hope your new year is off to a good start!  Mr Corgi and I are going to try "No Web Wednesday" after work today, but I will try to get a tutorial of my slider card up in the next couple of days.  Until then, enjoy the direction the wind takes you!

Down to the wire...

Is everything checked off your list?  I have about 4 more cards to make, plus some boxes to cut with my Silhouette, plus stalking email tracking to see if my gift to Mr Corgi will make it in time...eek!  But I do have some more cards to share!
First, a couple more Eat Cake Graphics Christmas cards:

Oh, how I love A Scarf for Ferguson!  Especially with that awesome October Afternoon night sky paper and some Waltzingmouse stamps, too.

As much as I love Ferguson, I do have a special love for Zero, and for putting different hats on him.  I almost went with my Santa hat theme, but then these antlers from Paper Smooches just called out to me.  The doghouse with lights is a Silhouette file.  I colored Zero with prismacolor pencils to look like my sister's dog, Molly. 

Can you name the movie?  Hint: It starts with e, ends with f, and has a l in the middle.  When one of my friends mentioned it was one of her favorite Christmas movies, I hopped right on the computer to start making it with some tracing and a pair of elf legs from the Silhouette store. I had to use this sweet candy patterned paper, and the Paper Smooches sentiment was just perfect for it, too.

This last card is the result of Mr Corgi deciding on Sunday afternoon that he did want to send cards to all his coworkers (15 of them).  

Fortunately, I never have to look far for a theme for his cards. I know what you're thinking, how in the world does an airplane qualify for a Christmas image, but if you take a look at our mantle, you'd be surprised to learn that yes, any and all airplanes are suitable for the holidays.  This was a Silhouette file, and I was able to cut out all 15 planes using only two sheets of shimmer paper and a few scraps.  The stamp is from Amuse (I love the shadow font effect), stamped in SU Cherry Cobbler.  And, yes, they were all finished and in the mailbox by Monday morning! 

Now it's time for this elf to get back to work!

Dear Santa (from the dog)

Now that this doggy has Santa cornered, I wonder what she would like to ask him...

Oh, sweet little doggy, I'm sure you made the "good" list!  I had so much fun paper piecing "Santa's doggy welcome" from Eat Cake Graphics that I may have gone a little overboard, as in, yes, I paper pieced Santa's glasses and doggy's tongue.  The sentiment was cut on shimmery paper (the very definition of "good") using Chowderhead font.  The background paper is "Twas the Night Before Christmas" paper from Amuse.

Speaking of Eat Cake Graphics, my "four month" design team gig there is finally drawing to a close.  Holly has been so laid back and easy to work with.  I'm forever grateful that she chose me to be on her design team, especially since it was my very first one!  ECG images make me so happy, so you certainly haven't seen the last of them.  If you love them too, Holly is looking for a few good stampers for her next team.  See all the details here and don't hesitate to apply--I would love to see one of y'all on there!

In other design team news, I am also stepping down from Market Street Stamps.  This week is the end of my six-month term, and although Angelica was nice enough to invite everyone back, she has such big plans for the next year that I wasn't sure I could keep up.  Angelica and Steph have been such fun to work with and I can't wait to see Market Street really take off to new heights this year!

As much fun as these design teams have been, I'm looking forward to starting the next year with absolutely no commitments but to enjoy my stamping.  I've gotten a little caught up in the howmanycardspublished/designteams/followers race and it's starting to take the joy out of crafting. I'm even debating about giving up blogging for a bit in the new year, but that does seem kind of drastic.  I do hope to have a nice big purge and clean up of my stamping room, then start the new year off with a fresh clean crafting slate.  That would be splendid!

You are such a dorg!

My blogger friend Jessi mentioned a while back that her kids loved the word "dorg," which Mr Corgi uses to describe Addison when she's being a dork.  So of course I had to make her a dorg card, right?

Man, that dorg still cracks me up, and Jessi said her kids got quite the kick out of it, too, which I'm glad to hear.  I used a silhouette file for the dorg and another one for the glasses, then printed the definition using word (hint: I just copied and pasted the pronunciation from google).

So in the exciting world of teaching, I gave my final tests today and now just have a couple days left of crowd control next week.  Yippee!  Have I mentioned the farthest we're traveling over the holidays is to Atlanta?  I'm so excited to spend Christmas at home.  What's kind of funny is that Mr Corgi bought me a Charlie Brown Christmas tree since I've been wanting one, but they are always sold out.  I got to open it when it came about a couple weeks ago and we put it on the dining room table.  Then both of us said at the same time, "That's a good enough tree for me!"  So yes, the one year we're home to enjoy our tree and we're being lazy scrooges.  At least I bought Mr Corgi the Hallmark airplane ornament, so now there are two ornaments on our Charlie Brown tree.  And it makes me happy every morning, and isn't that what a Christmas tree is supposed to do?

This blog has gone to the dogs!

Well, ok, maybe it's gone to the dogs already, but this weekend there's going to be lots of mangy mutts hanging around...starting with these three chihuahuas from Market Street's Pawprints on our Hearts set:

If you're visiting from my Market Street blog post today, you may have noticed the addition of some hats.  The Santa hat stamp is from Paper Smooches, but it was the perfect fit for those pups!  I even added some Snow Writer for some fluff (and I hate Snow Writer, so the recipient better appreciate that fluff!). 

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed the extravagant use of shimmer paper on this card--I used it for the letters, hats, and scarves because I DON'T NEED TO HOARD IT ANYMORE!  meredemaison gave me a good tip on some Hobby Lobby packs, which I finally got around to buying with a coupon (did you know the Hob Lobster is also selling some Echo Park paper packs now?  With a coupon, that's a pretty sweet deal. Make sure you check the scrapbook kits aisle, too, they were hiding some Little Boy and Walk in the Park packs there).  The same night, I went to Michael's and what do I spy?  A DCWV Shimmer Paper Pad!  Yes, I bought that, too.  The Paper Source (Hobby Lobby) one is nice because it has a solid core, but there were some colors in the DCWV I had to have.  Long story short, Christmas came early to Corgi Creations in the form of shimmer paper!

Other tidbits: The scarves are from Market Street's Cool Cats set and are a little snug on the chihuahua, but close enough for me.  The patterned paper is Echo Park and the sentiment is a Silhouette download. 

How are your holiday preparations going?  I think I have almost all of my shopping done, except for Mr Corgi.  Any ideas?

Belated Thanks!

Eek!  So I had a whole thankful-for-blog-friends post planned for Thanksgiving Day, but then somehow time got away from me before we left to spent the holiday with my parentals (which was loads of fun by the way.  Also, if you are ever having a small Thanksgiving and don't want to do a lot of prep work, I would highly recommend La Madeleine's take-home dinner.  It was SOOO yummy!) and then I've been a bit crazy here the past couple of days since I've been back.

BUT it's never too late to be thankful, right?  I'm thankful for all of my loyal readers who stick around even if I don't post every day (or week).  And I'm thankful for the following blog friends who sent such nice happy mail!

Angela of The Paper Cupboard is a wiz at putting together all sorts of fun elements, like these labels and flower and patterned paper!  The flower is so pretty in real life, I almost want to wear it!

Lindsey of Bashful Blogging sent me this awesome Hallowe'en card (the apostrophe is for her benefit).  I love that swirly purple paper that looks handmade and the glowing vellum moon!

Emily of Art from the Heart sent me this OTTER MATH card to thank me for sending her some silhouette die cuts.  Did you see she even paper pieced that fish!??  Plus did I mentioned it has an OTTER and MATH on it? 

Maria of Crafty Cre8tions sent me the most gorgeous Thanksgiving card. She has magical distress ink powers that I wish I possessed--this card almost looks lit from within!  And I got it right as we were pulling out of the driveway to drive to Houston, so perfect timing!

And speaking of Maria, she recently celebrated a milestone birthday, so I made this birthday card for her:

Ha.  I totally crack myself up.  I used a little print-and-cut magic for the label, with patterned paper adhered behind the 39 and the "th" cut out and glued.  How much do I like Maria?  Well, I cut into my red metallic paper for the "happy birthday."  I think that says it all, doesn't it? 

And speaking of saying it all, I think I'm all done with my thank yous!  I hope to be back later this week (or weekend) with some new Market Street goodies as well as a big project I've been working on for my parents.  Stay tuned and stay thankful! 

Hello. Is it me you're looking for?

So sometimes I get something stuck in my head (like that Lionel Richie song that's in your head now--you're welcome!). The only problem is when it gets stuck in my head wrong. Like when I read the comments from this post, I had it in my head that my pal Lindsey asked for a phone instead of my pal Jessi.  So when Lindsey won some blog candy from me, I though I should make a phone card and sent it along.  DOH!  Maybe I'll make an Angry Birds card and send to Jessi, then Jessi and Lindsey can switch.  ANYWAY, here is the card!

Get it?!?!  Red phone!?!  You da BOMB!?!?  Hahahaha.  I laughed myself silly over that one. This was a Silhouette Studio file that I modified a bit to make it into a card.  I l.o.v.e. that DCWV metallic paper--does anyone know where I can buy something similar by the sheet?  Or at least in a pack with all metallic paper?

I also have been hard at work on some more Hope You Can Cling to Challenges.  Here's one based on Jimmi's sketch challenge.

I just love Eat Cake Graphic's A Scarf for Ferguson.  The holiday paper is from My Mind's Eye, and Ferguson's scarf was fussy cut from Amuse gingham paper.  I also used Amuse's "cardstock" vellum to stamp the sentiment onto. This vellum isn't really all that vellum-y, but you can at still see a hint of the gingham behind it.  The sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas.

Ok, so now it's time for some book reports. I think I may spread them out over the next few days so this doesn't turn into a massive post! (click on the book to go to its Amazon page)

Book #36: This one was on my birthday wishlist because it was supposed to be THE book for any child of the 80's.  My mom gifted the Kindle book to me, which we both thought was so cool for her to do.  As for the book, it was definitely entertaining for a sci-fi book, but a little bit too action-adventure for me.  Plus I really didn't get a lot of the references.  I think what they meant to say was it was for any super geeky video-game loving child of the 80's.  I'm pretty sure the only video games I played in the 80's were Pong and Oregon Trail.  Oh, yeah, and Number Crunchers when our teachers were trying to be "educational" during our one hour of computer time every two weeks. I won't tell you not to read, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

Book #37: Have you noticed that there's a bit of a fad going on with books about women with some sort of amnesia or dementia? This book falls into that category.  I would recommend Before I go to Sleep before I would recommend this one.  Actually, that statement isn't true, because I would not recommend this one.  At all.  This is a re-enactment of me when I saw this title in my Amazon account:

Ann who? from Steven Castellano on Vimeo.

 And, yes, I am peeing my pants about Arrested Development coming back...in 2013!!

Silhouette By Numbers

Q: So what do you get when you combine this picture of my parents' dog, Marley,

with this tutorial from dudecraft,

along with some Picnik and Silhouette magic?

Answer:

THIS!!!

Yes, this was the special project that I was waiting to post until my parentals got it.  I call it Silhouette by Numbers since it's like a paint-by-numbers picture but using the Silhouette instead.  Um, did I just totally over-explain that?  Well, maybe I did, but I bet you still have more questions, like:

Q: How did you get the original picture into a paint-by-number looking one?  
A: Using Picnik's "posterize" option (near the bottom of the effects tab)
Q: How did you cut out the different colors?
A: Using the trace feature in the silhouette and playing around with the different sliders.  Once I had the cutouts for a certain color, I made sure to group them and cut them out as they were laid out (instead of ungrouping and scrunching them together to use less paper) so I could use the negative as a guide to place them.
Q: What color paper did you use?

The polka dot paper is from Echo Park's Life is Good.  I put the rest of the colors on a key shown to the right.
Q: How do you get the Silhouette to cut out thick SU and PTI paper?
A: You need more than just "double cut" for these.  If you select an object in the Studio while holding down control, it will add another cut to your image.  I usually have it cut about 3 or 4 times on 1 speed and 33 thickness.
Q: Wow. Shouldn't you just drop the $15 for a new blade?
A: Probably, but it would still take at least 3 cuts for thick paper.  I'd rather spend my money on new sticky mats, which are really necessary when you're making multiple passes.  I recommend buying the Cricut ones and cutting them down.
Q: How long did it take you to glue all those pieces?
A: Not as long as you would think.  Maybe an hour, hour and a half total.
Q: What did you use for glue?
A: I made my own mod-podge by watering down 3/4 cup of elmer's with 1/4 cup of water.  Just call me Martha.  Yeah, like Martha would ever use non-name brand Mod Podge.  Well, maybe if she used this recipe that starts from scratch with flour, sugar, and oil.
Q: What did you glue it on?
A: A cheap (like $1.50 cheap) 8x10 canvas.  They have value packs at Michael's right now with a different type of sale each week.  (I've stocked up on all sorts of sizes for future Silhouette crafts.)  I also wrapped the edges in ribbon.
Q: Were you ready to abandon the whole project after doing the mock-up in the Silhouette program because you thought it looked like crap?
A: Funny you should ask that, because: yes.  Then I had to go out of the room for a second and when I came back I noticed how great it looked from afar, which is definitely the key to this.  Even when I was gluing it together, I still wasn't sure until I took a couple steps back.  So remember that if you try this on your own.
Q: Should I try this on my own?
A: Most definitely!  And send me a link if you do!
Q: Are you going to make one of Addie?
A: Well, I'm sure the one of Addie would look really stupid with those big ears and stripe down her nose, so I definitely should not do one of her.  It's not like I even like the mangy mutt, right?
Q: You're joking, right?
A: Yes.  But I have a few more projects to work on before I can get started on hers.
Q: Also, shouldn't "mangy" have an e before the y?
A: You'd think so, but you'd be wrong.  I checked dictionary.com. 
Q: Did your parentals like it?
A:  Uh....YEAH!  Plus I must also add that I told my dad about his cards making the "hot" list for the Embellish challenge and he read the comments on my blog, then called me up laughing out loud at some of the stuff y'all wrote on there! :)  So thanks from me and my dad for all those great comments!

Angel Dog

Last week, Maria of Crafty Creations had to say goodbye to one of her four-legged family members, Layla.  I wanted to send her a special sympathy card, and as soon as I saw on the photos she posted on her blog, I knew exactly what I wanted to do:

I just had to make an angel dog, which I did by printing out Layla's photo and using the trace feature in Silhouette Studio to cut it out, although it probably would have been easier and quicker to just cut it out myself.  The wings were a Silhouette file, and then I embossed the smaller wing using SU's Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  The background paper is a pretty shimmery one from a DCWV pack, matted with Smokey Shadow on a Soft Stone base (a pretty big one, too- 5.5 x 8.5 because I just could force myself to make it any smaller).  The sentiment is from Verve.  Maria did say she got a little teary-eyed when she opened it, but I hope it was in a remember-the-good-times way.

I don't even want to discuss how far behind I am in my blog comments; I had good intentions this weekend and then Every Word: Crossings on the Kindle sucked me into the couch for most of the day.  I also saw The Help, which I would definitely recommend (although the book is, as always, better).  I also saw Crazy. Stupid. Love. before school started and would definitely recommend that one, too, if only for the New Balance shoe joke (although the rest of it is pretty darn good, too).  I hope all of y'all are having a great week! 

Market Street Color Cue

Am I the last one on the block to hear about Market Street Stamps?   I think I may need some in my life, stat!  Fortunately their color cue is open for all stamps, so I played along with the current challenge:

and used this week's CAS sketch challenge again, too:

I thought Eat Cake Graphics Callie would love to help decorate for a party (especially since she's wearing her party hat).  I used a Silhouette store download for the banner, cut it out of Echo Park Playground and My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Life of the Party papers, and attached them with the Tim Holtz tiny attacher.  I also added a wee bit of foam tape under a couple banners on each string.  I stamped Callie out of Sahara Sand, which I also used for the base.  I always forget about that color. Do you, too?  Anyway, because the stamp had a pattern on the hat already, I stamped it on the back of the patterned paper and cut it out.  Ink the edges with a marker, and voila-a hat with no stamped pattern on it!  The letters are from a Cosmo Cricket sheet and they are totally not centered on the sticker, so yes I had to trim one side of every sticker because it was annoying me so much and because I'm that type of person.

I'm also the type of person that likes to win.  I'm also the person not above asking you yet again to vote for me for Gallery Idol here (it should take you straight to my card, but if it doesn't, I'm number 7-the spaceship).  If you already took to the time to do so, YOU ROCK!  Thanks so much!

CAS Guest Designer!

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a CAS Guest Designer again and this week we have a sketch challenge.  I hope you'll play along here--it is such a gorgeous inspiration card by Debbie!   I have the beach on my mind, so I used my good ol' The Cat's Pajamas surfing dog:

I made the waves using my A Muse Studio large scallop die.  I cut them from A Muse ocean paper, then inked the edges with PTI Fresh Snow ink.  Stamped, colored, and cut out Poochie, then added the sentiment.  Surf's up, dude!

Make sure you check back here today (Monday) at 2:00 Eastern for my first Gallery Idol card!  I'm so nervous!

A Re-enactment

I made this card the other day and wasn't going to post it because it's a re-enactment of a very random you-tube video.  But then yesterday I found out that I made it into the Paper Craft Gallery Idol Top Twenty and it turned in to a re-enactment of me!!!!!  So first the video:

I could watch this video daily and still not get tired of it. Ok, maybe I have watched this video daily and still not gotten tired of it.  "The maple-flavored kind?" along with the "AHHH!" at the end have become conversational phrases between my DH and myself.  So now that you know the video, here's the card:

"Ok," you're thinking, "what does this have to do with finding out you're in the top twenty?"
Because this is the inside of the card:

(My AHH was of course a good-if-not-a-wee-bit-overwhelmed AHH, not a you-fed-it-to-the-cat AHHHH.)
I copied the shark pop-up from Robert Sabuda's pop-up website (a website about pop-up books, not about internet pop-up ads.  You should definitely check out his website and his books!) into the Silhouette studio and edited the mouth to get rid of the teeth.  The ears are the shark's fin.

The next challenge is DIY embellishments, which has my brain on overdrive.  Voting begins Monday and by the looks of the other top twenty cards, I've got quite a lot of competition, so I'll definitely be asking for your help.

The maple-flavored kind of help, of course.

You had me at woof.

Well, it seems I may have become addicted to my Silhouette.  It's still a bit of a learning curve, especially when trying to cut PTI paper--some of it cuts like buttah (red, ocean tides) and some of it (black especially) cuts shreds like shredded cheese.  But through determination and only a small amount of swearing, I made this card for the Embellish magazine text challenge.

I made the square in the silhouette software and as I was dragging the text to see if it would fit, I happened upon the super-cool trick of wrapping the text around a shape, then you can weld it and it cuts it out as one shape.  Did that just blow your mind like it did mine?  The fighter planes are a silhouette download.  Take a look at an extreme close-up and notice (a) the beautiful cuts and (b) the text background-I printed the glossary of an old flight manual (thanks to Lindsey of Bashful Blogging for the excellent Google Books idea).

I'm sure right about now you're thinking, "Man, Meg has really let herself go over summer vacation.  I mean, what do planes have to do with 'woof'?  And I'm pretty sure Jerry Maguire said 'hello,' not 'woof.'"  Ok, I'll give you that Jerry said "hello" but that's probably because he didn't have the cutest corgi in the whole wide world.   (You know, someone should make a crafting romantic comedy.  Maybe the meet-cute could be fighting over the last clearance pack of paper.  Oh, no, wait, maybe she's in the hardware store buying magnetic vent covers for nestie storage and he's in the hardware store buying magnetic vent covers to actual vent coverage and then the pottery scene from "Ghost" is redone with ink and stamps.  And it could be titled "Squeeze, Pull, Jerk"^[1]) Anyway, all that to introduce my next card:

To answer your questions:
1) From a sign I bought at Homegoods. 
2) From the fact that I was planning on using Hawaiian Shores scrunched ribbon for the collar, which ended up not working, but I still liked the color scheme. 
3) Transfer paper.  I cut out the letters, then peeled away all the paper from the carrier sheet, leaving the letters on it.  Use the transfer paper to lift them up all at once, apply glue using quickie glue pen, then adhere the letters and peel away the transfer sheet.  There was still some wiggling, but much closer to perfect than I could have done without the transfer paper.
4) Yes, that is a silhouette of Addison.  I made the silhouette in GIMP, then imported it into the silhouette software and used the trace feature.
5) Yes, it does seem heavy on the lower right, but I had no idea what to add to the top left to balance it.  Any suggestions?

So there you have it.  Let me know if you have questions I didn't answer.

^[1]referencing how to use the ATG, of course.

CAS DT Search

Around this time last year, I tried out for the SCS CAS design team for the first time, which led to making lots of new friends and the start of this blog.  I had a few guest designer weeks, but I haven't officially tried out again since school keeps me so busy.  Now it is summer again and I decided at the last minute to throw my hat into the ring with this card.

I've had Scooter's Day at the Pool from Eat Cake Graphics for quite some time now, but this is the first time I've inked it up.  I stamped him on A Muse Ocean paper, then stamped him again on white paper, colored him with copics, cut him out, then added some Glossy Effects to his fins and snorkel mask.  The sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas, white embossed.  Then I used nestabilities and a good ol' hole punch to cut out the bubbles.  I popped Scooter and the sentiment up on foam tape, then the other larger circles are popped up on two layers of foam tape.  Hope Scooter's feeling lucky today!

As promised, here are the books I've been reading recently:
Book #11:The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian Like most of his books (he also wrote Midwives), there was a twist that I didn't see coming, but I'm not sure it was worth reading the entire book just for that twist.
Book #12: The Internet is a Playground by David Thorne.  Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just go immediate to Amazon and buy this book.  It is laugh-out-loud, "wait, wait, you gotta hear this part" read-out-loud hilarious by the author of Missing Missy (which, if you haven't read that yet, click that link now, man!)
Book #12.25: Moby-Duck by Donovan Thorne. I say .25 because I read about 100 pages and could not see myself being interested in another 400.  It's called EDITING.  Yes, you can talk about a lot of different topics and get sidetracked, but if you want to learn how to do it right, read Mary Roach.
Book #13: Remember the Sweet Things by Ellen Greene.  A sweet memoir about a wife who keeps a list of all the small little nice things her husband does.  It started as a magazine article, and that was probably the length it needed to be.
Book #14: The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann.  A collection of articles, some of them fascinating, some a bit too "underworldy" for my taste.  Would recommend for a library rental.
Book #15: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. This book just made me so darn happy.  Lincoln, who is hired to read emails that are flagged by security software, starts to fall in love with one of the flagged email authors.  You will probably have to buy multiple copies, because once you loan it to one of your friends, she will end up loaning it to one of her friends, etc, and then you will never get it back, which is OK because that means more people are enjoying the happiness that is this book.


Hook me up with your recommendations in the comments--summer is quickly approaching (and I heard rumors of a Kindle approaching as well!).

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is enjoying Easter Sunday.  I have one more Easter card to share.

Tee-hee!  I love putting the Eat Cake Graphics bunny ears on all sorts of stamps, and Callie (also from ECG) was the lucky recipient this year.  The peep paper and the polka dot paper are from Echo Park, and the pink paper is from the A Muse clearance (I think I ended up with ten stamp sets from that sale!).  The sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas.

And yes, I DO know where my peeps are!  

They are at Bashful Blogging mixing twine colors;

 at Art from the Heart making funky scallop borders;

at Paper Cupboard cutting into fancy paper;

and at the Post Office, sending mis-shipments back to me.

I hope you know where your peeps are today!

From The Corgi

Of course Miss Addison had to make a card for Mr Corgi's birthday!

She kept it pretty CAS, what with the lack of opposable thumbs and such.  Can you believe how well she colored that stamp from There She Goes "Puppy Love" set?  There was also some fur in my Antique Linen distress ink, so I think she may have used that to color in the sign with an aquapainter.  I had to help her use the cuttlebug to die cut those banners (the C plate, Addison, the C plate!^[1]), but she tiny-attached them and foam taped them all by her onesies.  And corner-rounded the top corner, too! 

Also, I just had to share this photo I took this afternoon (with apologies to all those poor Northerners still stuck in snow):

Isn't that just gorgeous?  We just got this at Lowe's this weekend and I hope the other four or five buds blossom before I kill it  (I'm all about setting realistic goals).

Anything growing in your garden yet?

^[1]Typing this line about made me pee my pants. I grew up watching Lassie every morning (shocker, huh?) and my favorite episode was where Timmy's mom gets trapped in a cougar trap, so she sends Lassie to get the C-clamp.  Except Lassie comes back with a cheese slicer instead!  Silly Lassie!  So Ruth repeats, "No, the C-clamp, Lassie!  Get the C-Clamp!"  I searched for a video to link, but I couldn't find one.  So I hope someone out there can back me up on how awesome that episode is, or you'll just have to take my word for it.

Trend Setter!

What can I say, I've known hot air balloons were the next "hot" thing ever since 2006.  Why was I so ahead of the curve on the hot air balloon trend?  Could be because Mr Corgi proposed to me in one; could be I'm just that stylish.  You decide.

Being a HABT (hot air balloon trendsetter), I had to play along in the Moxie Fab "In My Beautiful Balloon" challenge and make a card for Mr Corgi:

I was inspired by this photograph, which is even more GORGEOUS in person (ask me how I know and how well Mr Corgi picks up Christmas present hints).   I heat-embossed this adorable Cat's Pajamas stamp (hello! dog and HAB?  Had to have it!) onto two pieces of patterned paper and cut them out.  Yes, even the strings.  Yes, I'm crazy, but I also know the secret packing-tape-on-the-back-before-you-cut trick.  The cloud paper is Echo Park.  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (one of those tiny 2 inch ones that you bought when you first got the CB and haven't used since) to make the skyline out of A Muse yellow gingham paper.  I was originally planning on cutting down the skyline to fit inside the frame, but then I like how it looked outside (it's also on foam tape for dimension). I put some twine between each HAB and the pop dot I used to adhere it, then wrapped the twine around the back and secured with adhesive.  I tied the bows separately and used half a glue dot to attach them (I debated for about 10 minutes about adding the twine and I'm glad I did).  The sentiment is also Cat's Pajamas, stamped in Soft Suede (did y'all notice how many parenthetical asides I've had in this paragraph?).

Hope everyone is ready for Monday.  We fortunately have a short week.  I think I can make four days!  Five would have been doubtful. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  Are any of y'all planning on venturing out tonight?  Fill me in on your awesome plans!  I think DH is cooking me a nice steak, served with a amaretto sour, of course.  Speaking of DH, here is my {second} card for him:

This card is also for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.  The poochie is from There She Goes Puppy Love set.  It was a gift from DH, so double awesome (the fact that it is a dog is first awesome)!  I colored her with copics, then stamped a Waltzingmouse Vintage Labels 4 border in Bashful Blue.  Each layer is attached with pop dots for some great dimension.

The sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas, with a little Martha punch action at the end.  Of course I had to use some of my favorite paper, and I added a little stitching for fun.  The top corner seemed lonely, so I made some 3 faux brads using Real Red cardstock.

The second Valentine is for my friend to give to her husband.  I couldn't resist these little turtles from Amber Ink!

This one is also for the Embellish Color Trends Challenge. In Word, I drew a 4 x 5.25 rectangle, then inserted the row of turtles.  I resized them to be .8 inches tall, then copied and pasted the picture until I had 5 rows of turtles (I flipped some of them horizontally to break up the pattern a bit).  After printing and cutting, I colored the two that were gazing at each other with copics, then added some glossy accents to their shells.  The sentiment is from Unity, die cut with scallop circle nestability.  Then I matted the image with Kiwi Kiss and adhered to an Ocean Tides base.  Here's a close up of the turtles so you can check out the shiny shells:

I hope y'all have a wonderful Valentine's day!